


Coffee Break

by SpookySad



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Astronauts, Bros in Space, Coffee, Fluff, M/M, No Smut, Not Really Bros, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 12:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12387957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookySad/pseuds/SpookySad
Summary: Tyler and Josh watch the sun rise from space.





	Coffee Break

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IglooIceTakashi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IglooIceTakashi/gifts).



“Do you miss it?” Josh asks from two hundred fifty miles above the Earth while they're on their coffee break.

“What, that?” Tyler asks. He points to the south-eastern hemisphere as it’s sailing by. He makes believe that they’re sitting still and that the world is revolving around them instead of the other way around. Maybe it’s just spinning around Josh, and Tyler is only lucky enough to be sitting next to him. “We’re not that far away, you know. When I was in Houston and you were in Columbus? We were more than three times further away from each other then than we are from the Earth right now.”

“I know that,” Josh says. He sips his coffee and leans forward to press a button on the dashboard that has begun to glow. They feel the station shift underneath them as it gains altitude. The first week in space, that sensation had made Tyler feel sick every single time. _Space Sickness_ , Josh had said, grinning. _Like Sea Sickness, only worse_. “It feels far away though.”

“It’s still too close for my taste,” Tyler jokes sardonically. He studies the cloud pattern of the monsoon rains above India and thinks about the rain, the wind, things he hasn’t felt for the last three months. He knows that when they fly over the Atlantic, he’ll see the spiral of a hurricane that’s been brewing. The Earth is beautiful, but it’s _scary_.

“It’s only going to get closer. Our time in the final frontier is almost up, and then it’s back to one hundred percent gravity. I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking forward to weighing those extra fifteen pounds.”

Tyler lifts his mug to his mouth to hide his smile. “I don’t care about _that_.”

“Can’t hide forever, Ty,” Josh says. And how has Josh always been so good at seeing through him, at reading the meaning underneath whatever Tyler says, whatever he’s too scared to say?

“It’s not hiding,” Tyler promises. “Just…procrastinating. This is all I’ve ever done, all I’ve ever been. I went to Houston for the Space Corps right out of college. My dad still shows people the picture in his wallet of me as an astronaut for Halloween when I was five. This has always been the plan. I didn’t know that I’d need a plan for _after_ my plan. You know?”

Josh nods, quiet. They stare out the large glass window together, sipping their coffee. The inky emptiness of space is contrasted by the glow of Earth, the dying beams of the sun as they pass on the opposite side of the planet.

“I’m going to try music,” Tyler says at last.

“Music?”

“Yeah. When we’re back down there.” Sometimes in their downtime, when two other astronauts are manning the observation and controls, Tyler invites Josh into his bunk and plays the Ukulele for him. _I would have brought my piano_ , he had said. _But they said it wouldn’t fit_.

“I bet Houston has a great music program,” Josh says. “Look—there’s Ohio.”

The United States is below them now, like a ship passing by in the dark. They watch it begin to glow: Chicago, New York, LA, veins of glowing lights as cities illuminate. One of them is Columbus. Like they do every night, they stand up to press their hands to the glass. Tyler mouths a word to his family: _Goodnight_.

America passes. They sit back down.

“Maybe I’ll come back to Ohio,” Tyler says. He watches Josh out of the corner of his eye, sees the way his eyes squint happily behind his cup. Josh doesn’t say anything, but his hand relaxes down into the space between their chairs. Tyler shifts his mug into his other hand so he can reach down. They lace fingers. “I don’t, really.”

Josh’s brow furrows. “You don’t think you’ll come back?”

“No,” Tyler says. He nods to the window. “I don’t miss Earth.”

Josh smiles. They squeeze hands. “Bro,” he says. “Is that because _I’m_ like, _your world?_ ”

“Don’t ruin the moment."

Together they sip at their coffee and watch the sun rise from the other side of the Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written something happy before. A fun exercise in happiness.
> 
> Twitter: spooky_sad  
> Tumblr: sosaditsspooky


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